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This chapter applies the business diplomacy concept to Brazil, a leading emerging economy and a member of the BRICS group. Brazil’s emergence as a new economic power has facilitated the emergence of several large national champions whose international behavior is understudied.

The chapter presents an extensive review of secondary sources and selective use of previous survey data compiled by the author.

This chapter adds to the literature on business diplomacy and contributes empirical research on a leading emerging power. Brazil’s ambitious diplomatic agenda is matched by the country’s growing number of internationalized companies. Brazilian corporate managers need to increase their business diplomacy competency to effectively leverage their presence and legitimacy abroad.

Additional case studies will foster a more robust theory regarding business diplomacy of emerging economies.

A growing number of cases of business diplomacy in Brazil will benefit both business and diplomacy communities and facilitate greater research collaboration.

How Brazilian business diplomats navigate between the boundaries of international business, diplomacy, and foreign policy are important questions for a country concerned with its international role and its goal of becoming a key actor in the international arena. A better understanding of how business diplomacy works in Brazil together with more case studies will benefit a new generation of business leaders.

The behavior of Brazilian business elites in international affairs remains largely unexplored. This work’s original contribution is precisely in the form of its focus on Brazilian business diplomats and how business diplomacy is exercised by Brazilian companies.

This paper aims to analyze Brazil’s governmental positions during two international conflicts involving major Brazilian firms and two South American countries: the nationalization of Petrobras in Bolivia in 2006 and the expulsion of Odebrecht from Ecuador in 2008. Brazil’s government officials showed themselves to be not only open to negotiations but also understanding and cooperative with Bolivia. The same policymakers, however, showed no trace of this accommodating behavior toward Ecuador. This paper focuses on the explanatory power of the ideas of the ruling Workers’ Party and sustains that this party has played a crucial role on shaping the current government–business relations in Brazil.

This research applies process tracing analysis within two case studies; and content analysis to operationalize the concept “Workers’ Party’s ideas” using 14 Workers’ Party’s official documents. It investigates the circumstances under which political ideas guide policymaking.

This work found a correlation between Workers’ Party’s ideas and Brazil’s governmental positions which first benefited Bolivian demands. On the other hand, these ideas found no representation during negotiations with Ecuador. To explain this variation, this study tested the link between uncertainty and influence of ideas. Uncertainty was both an “activating condition”, allowing ideas to come into play in policymaking, and a “magnifying condition” showing the dynamic relationship between the level of uncertainty and the level of influence of ideas.

This study contributes to the evolving debate on business and government relations in Brazil by focusing on the role of ideas and interests on policymaking.

This article explores two gaps in the literature on European Union (EU) crises: firstly, the external effects of the crises on EU actorness and its relations with other countries and regions and, secondly, the uniqueness of the EU crises when compared to other world regions. The article explores these questions and argues that the crises did affect external views on the EU and its role in the world due to the influence of third country perspectives on its actorness and its “intermestic nature,” but that the EU is not the only regional organization in crisis. As the case of Latin American regionalism shows, other regions have suffered from common systemic factors at the global level as well as from the decreased EU support of regionalism abroad.

We are experiencing a period of adaptation of our agri-food systems to the context of climate change, thus witnessing the incorporation of several more ecological and socially inclusive practices. In this sense, this chapter seeks to understand the role of civil society in promoting sustainable food systems based on Brazilian experiences over the last three decades. First, the role of civil society in the construction of new agroecological markets is discussed, bringing the experience of the consumer cooperative COOLMEIA, which started the construction of the first agroecological fair in Brazil, the Ecological Farmers Fair in Porto Alegre. Then the civil society activism engaged on establishment of the Human Right to Healthy and Adequate Food is discussed, highlighting the importance of social movements and civil society organisations in the construction of a democratic political system. At last, the trajectory of the civil society as actors participating in the formal instance of State governance through their performance in the National Council for Food Security and Nutrition – CONSEA, presenting the historical context, achievements and struggles. Finally, the chapter concludes with a section reviewing lessons learned and possible challenges for civil society participation in the debate on agri-food systems in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the motivations behind the accession of Latin American countries to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with a focus on the cases of Brazil and Chile.

The author collected data using a case study methodology, primarily through semi-structured interviews with decision-makers and through official government documentation.

The findings identified that, overall, the Brazilian politicians who made the decision to join the bank had an unclear perception of its economic benefit and believed that the clearest benefit from accession is political (to support China's initiative). After years of domestic political turmoil and economic crisis, Brazil experienced delayed incorporation into the bank, slow ratification processes in the domestic arena and a reduction in its capital commitment. Chilean decision-makers, on the other hand, seemed to have a clearer idea of the benefits from accessing the bank, which explains that their ratification process has been faster and smoother. Yet, a surprising socio-political crisis delayed incorporation into the bank. Both countries have delayed their accession to the bank due to domestic crises.

Three policy implications can be drawn from this study. First, the entry of Latin American countries into the bank reflects the persuasiveness of Chinese diplomacy in this region. Second, the author finds that interviewees are not always able to differentiate the AIIB from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and hold the misguided idea that the AIIB is subordinated to the BRI rather than complementary to it. This might set overly high expectations of the benefits of entering the AIIB. Third, the author foresees that the largest potential of the AIIB in Latin America lies in the possibility of participating in co-financed projects, in particular with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Development Bank of Latin America.

Research on the AIIB has boomed in recent years, yet there are few in-depth studies about Latin American prospective members. The value of this study lies in offering in-depth data for two of the eight prospective members from this region.

The purpose of this paper is to present the policies in the field of social and solidarity economics (SSE) in India and in Brazil, to draw a comparison between them and to present their strengths and weaknesses. This proposal is based on the innovative initiative of an ongoing collaboration between India and Brazil in the field of SSE within the South-South Triangular Cooperation framework of the International Labor Organization.

The methodological procedures used for the elaboration of this article were: literature review in both countries and field trips to India and Brazil.

The study helped us understand the realities of SSE in both countries. The importance of SSE can be observed as a means to deal with poverty and the need to generate income for portions of the population, in spite of the historic, cultural, political, economic and social differences. The Indian experience contributes to the theme of the insertion of women in the mechanisms of generation of work positions and income opportunities, whereas the Brazilian experience contributes to the topic of social cooperativism.

Despite the contributions of SSE to mitigate poverty and income deficiency, considering a significant share of the poor, particularly in India, the mechanisms for inclusion of this population are limited. A similar situation, however, to a lesser degree can also be observed in Brazil.

This study is an input for the elaboration of public policies of SSE, including the advantages of its transversality.

Besides, it will also help in the analysis and elaboration of social policies from an integrated and emancipatory view.

Within the international context, the authors understand that this was the first comparative study on the topic of SSE, undertaken between Brazil and India.